Chapter 11: Oops!

                Ga In stepped into her room. She was drunk, not much of a surprise there. What was a surprise is that Hong Jun was there. He was sitting there in sweatpants and a tank top. He was wiping oil off his hands.

                “What have you-(hic) been up to?” she asked. He looked over and smiled.

                “Just fixing this,” he said, holding up her old porcelain merry-go-round. She smiled, stumbling over to the bed, grabbing his shoulders for support. Hong Jun helped her onto the bed, where she leaned over his back, pressing her s into his shoulder blade. He sighed, picking up the merry-go-round. “How does it look?” he asked. She smiled.

                “It looks lovely,” she said, extending a hand to touch it. He wiped off the extra grease and set it onto her night table. He then pried her off his back.

                “Ga In, don’t hang on me like that.” He said, brushing her off of his shoulder. She rose to her knees and crawled back towards him.

                “Why (hic) not?” she asked, leaning her head on his back. He sighed.

                “One, I’m not going to sleep with you when you’re a hot, drunken mess. Two, I wouldn’t sleep with you if you were sober, you’re not my type.” He said. “And besides, that would just make everything awkward. Especially now that Yuna’s here.” He said.

                “What are you going (hic) to do (hiccup) once you graduate?” she asked. He shrugged.

                “I haven’t thought about it yet,” he said, standing up, placing her gently onto her bed. “Now go to sleep.” He threw her blanket over her and left the room.

                ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Ga In wondered.

*****

                Hee Sun was walking along the shore of the lake. She was kicking in pebbles as she passed by. It was yet another lazy day. Nothing much was transpiring. Not to her knowledge anyway. She looked out onto the lake. She wondered what Heejun was up to.

*****

                Heejun and Lexy were at the garage. He was fixing a motor while she sat by and watched. He kept himself pretty clean, for a grease monkey. She looked about. The other guys had left hours ago. It was a short workday, but Heejun stayed behind to work on a truck he was almost finished with.

                Lexy walked over to him. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked, leaning over the open hood of the truck. He looked up at her, wiping his brow with the towel slung over his shoulder.

                “Fixing the engine.” He simply responded, taking a wrench out of his tool belt and getting back to work. Lexy just smiled as she watched him. He was so hardworking and attractive; it was no wonder Hee Sun had wanted him so badly. But now, he was her boyfriend.

                “So, what do you wanna do later?” she asked. He stopped working for a minute and shrugged.

                “I don’t know yet,” he said. He snapped his fingers and looked at her. “Hey, how long is the school open till?” he asked.

                “It’s Friday, so it would close around 8 at night.” She said. “They stay open late for detention.” She said, examining her nails.

                “You would know,” he said, flashing her a charming smile. She smiled back.

                “Hey, those girls had it coming. Don’t nobody throw paint balloons at my man.” She said. He smiled. Lexy had been getting herself into a lot of trouble on his behalf. He felt guilty. He didn’t want her to be put in danger as well.

                “Lexy,” he said, standing up and closing the truck’s hood. “You ain’t gotta stick up for me you know, I don’t want you getting hurt.” He said. She shrugged.

                “I don’t know, beating people is kinda fun, I can see why Chaerin does it.” She said, smiling sweetly and batting her eyes. He shook his head.

                “Just be careful, aight?” she nodded.

                “Ne, don’t worry about me.” She said, ruffling his hair. She wiped the sweat from his hand onto her jean shorts. “You might wanna take a shower, there Herc.” She said. He laughed, putting his arm around her.

*****

After he was fresh and clean, he and Lexy went down to the school. He had left some of his books there in his hurry to get to work. They went into the school and straight to his locker. He pulled them out and shoved them into his knapsack. He turned to Lexy with a smile.

                “How about we go out for coffee afterwards?” he asked. She smiled.

                “Sure, why not?” she said, patting him on the back. He bent down and grabbed his jacket. It had fallen onto the bottom of his locker as he rushed off earlier that day. He got up, zipping his bag. As he turned around, he saw a group of students. They had rocks and bats in their hands.

                “Well, well, well,” one of them said, tossing the stone in their hand up and catching it. “Look who we’ve got here.” The others smiled maliciously.

                “Lexy, run!” said Heejun, sprinting off into the opposite direction. He could hear them gaining on him. Lexy was ahead of him, kicking open the door to the courtyard. They ran out, Heejun practically tripping as he went. They ran out onto the football field. Lexy fell over as her shoe got stuck in a knot of grass. Heejun tried to help her up.

                “Come on, Lexy, let’s go!” he cried. She tried to pull herself up, but cried out in pain and grabbed her ankle.

                “I think it’s broken!” she cried. He turned to see the crowd of kids heading towards them.

                “Curl up and hold tight.” He said, lying on top of her.

                “Heejun, what are you doing?” she asked, frantically trying to move. “Heejun, run!” she cried. He shook his head.

                “No, just stay put, I’ll protect you.” He said, shielding her body with his own as the first assailant cracked him over the back with a baseball bat. He could feel his skin break open as they beat him mercilessly.

                “Heejun, stop!” Lexy cried, tears rolling down her face.

                “Its okay, Lexy.” He said, as bat cracked across his skull. Blood dripped from his head and down his neck. “I’m going to protect you, no matter what.” Lexy held onto his shirt tightly as the students dropped their weapons and began kicking and punching him.

                Once it had seemed that they had finished, one assailant took a good sized rock, and threw it down onto his back. He fell onto Lexy, crying out in pain.

                “AAAAHHHH!” he punched the ground, tearing up grass and soil. Blood spattered from his back, staining the grass. Lexy dialed 119.

                “Hello?” she asked, her voice shaking. “I need an ambulance.”

*****

                Ga In and Hong Jun were in her room, talking, as usual. Not that she was making much headway with her argument.

                “But why?” she asked, whining and shaking herself like a toddler. Hong Jun rolled his eyes. He hated when girls did that. It wasn’t cute, it was embarrassing.

                “Because Ga In, you’re childish and whiny and that isn’t what I want in a relationship!” he said, turning to her. She stopped and pouted, putting her hands in her lap.  

                “I can change,” she said, scooting towards him. He stopped her.

                “No, I don’t want you to change who you are,” he said, smiling sweetly at her. She smiled back. “I mean, you could get your drinking under control, but that’s a whole ‘nother issue we can discuss later.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed him by his shirt.

                “Come on Hong Jun, we’re adults here, why not?” she asked. He gently removed her hand.

                “No Ga In. I don’t even know you all like that.” He said. She threw her arms around his neck, throwing him backwards.

                “You aren’t giving me a chance either.” He raised an eyebrow.

                “As long as you stay sober, I’ll go out on one date with you,” he said, holding up one finger to emphasize his point. She cuddled him.

                “I knew you’d give in one way or another,” she said, planting a kiss upon his cheek. He rolled his eyes.

*****

                Hee Sun was sitting by the lake that evening; looking in. the fish were swimming about, going about their everyday business. It must be nice, being a fish. You don’t have any real responsibilities, unless you count not getting yourself eaten. Then one. But that one seemed much easier than her life at the moment.

                She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She was going to ignore it, but for some reason, it felt important that she should answer it. She pulled out her phone, it was Chaerin.

                “Hello?” she asked.

                “Hee Sun, it’s awful,” she cried. Hee Sun could hear her gasping from the other side of the line.

                “Chaerin, calm down; tell me what’s wrong.” She said.

                “It’s Heejun, he’s in the hospital.” Hee Sun’s heart stopped. Heejun. That name seemed so unfamiliar now. Of course she remembered him, but she swore that after the Red Card, she would have nothing more to do with him. Her gut churned. Despite the promise to herself, she had the innate feeling that she should go. “Hee Sun?” Chaerin called for her on the other line. She shook her head and raised the phone to her ear.

                “I’m on my way, calm down Chaerin. I’ll be there soon.”

*****

                Heejun was lying in a hospital bed. His back was badly injured, but nothing was broken. He had suffered a concussion from the blows to his head. The doctor was astounded that he wasn’t in a coma. Or dead, for that matter. Lexy had come in earlier. Her ankle was sprained; luckily she had sustained no further injuries. He looked towards the door as a soft knock came.

                “Come in.” he called. Ji Yeon came in, wheeling in Yoon Jae. They had stayed after school to study in the library. If anything, they had fared much better. Ji Yeon suffered a cut lip and multiple bruises, not to mention a fractured left arm. Yoon Jae had his leg broken and his ribs fractured. He actually did suffer a concussion.

                “How are you feeling?” asked Ji Yeon, sitting in the chair next to his bed. “Any better?” she asked. He nodded.

                “Everything still hurts, but at least I can finally feel my legs.” He shifted uncomfortably in his bed. “Unfortunately, that means I can’t work. I don’t know for how long though, the doctor said he’ll have to wait and examine me in a week or so.” He said. Ji Yeon nodded. There was another knock at the door.

                “Who is it?” he called.

                “It’s me,” a small voice called. He nodded to Ji Yeon. She went over and opened the door. Ayaka stood there, her cheeks swollen and her left eye was bruised so badly that it had swollen shut. She had gotten the better of the three of them. She had come in looking for them after their attack happened. A couple of the students who hadn’t left yet got a hold of her.

                She came in and sat at the edge of his bed. “How you doing?” she asked. He shrugged.

                “Better. And you?” he asked. She shook her head.

                “I wish I could say that I’ve taken better beatings, but that was brutal.” She said, rubbing her face. Yoon Jae nodded.

                “No kidding. That Red Card is no joke.” He said, shaking his head. “I actually have half a mind to leave the school.” he said. Heejun shook his head.

                “Come on; don’t give in like that, Yoon Jae. Don’t let them get the best of you.” He said. Yoon Jae smiled sadly.

                “Look at what they’ve done to us. We’ve quite literally, been beaten. I don’t know what else there is to do.” He said. Ji Yeon patted his head.

                “Keep your head up, everything’s going to be okay.” She reassured him. Heejun nodded. He didn’t necessarily believe his own words, but he hoped that Yoon Jae would. The door opened again, and Lexy hobbled in.

                “Hey, guys. I didn’t know we were having a cripple party, I would have brought dip.” She joked. The others looked at her, rolling their eyes or attempting to hold back laughter.

                “Our only saving grace is that graduation is so close, if anyone does anything else, they can be suspended and refused a diploma,” said Ayaka, lazily swinging her feet. Lexy took a seat right next to her, patting her shoulder as she set down her crutches.

                “Well, I guess that’s our silver lining in this situation.” She said. The others nodded.

*****

                After the others had left, Lexy kissed Heejun on the forehead and grabbed her crutches.

                “I hope you get better soon, school is such a drag without you.” She said smiling. He smiled back.

                “Me too.” He said. She exited the room, leaving him to rest.

                As she shut the door, she came face to face with Hee Sun. she looked her up and down. She put her tongue in her cheek, thinking that it would be better to just not say anything, but she changed her mind quickly enough.

                “Is this how you get your kicks? From half-killing people?” she asked, coming within centimeters of her now. “What kind of sick are you?” Hee Sun slapped her across the face.

                “Who the do you think you are, speaking to me like that?” she asked. “I came here to make sure Heejun was okay, I was worried about him.” Lexy scoffed.

                “Worried? You’re the one who set those heathens on us. Besides,” she said, “I don’t need some tramp worrying about my boyfriend.” She said, going off down the hallway. Hee Sun’s mouth hung open. That delinquent was Heejun’s new girlfriend? She looked back at her. She shook her head and headed in.

                She stood there and looked at him. He truly did look pitiful. He was bandaged on his head and arms, from what she could see. He looked at her and sighed. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

                “Heejun, I, I’m sorry. This is all my fault, I should never have-” Heejun held up his mobile hand.

                “Stop right there. I don’t want to hear any of your excuses or apologies. Their worthless to me.” He said, sitting up. “If you didn’t mean for this to happen, you wouldn’t have given us the Red Card, or told Chaerin and them to Red Card us. I know how hands off you are.”  Hee Sun felt small. Not that this would matter to Heejun.

                “I just wanted to see if you were okay. Seems to be so, so I’ll just be leaving.” She said, turning and reaching for the knob.

                “Yeah, no thanks to you, you spiteful .” He said. Her heart felt like it was exploding as she ran out of the room. She had made so many awful mistakes. This one didn’t even deserve to be called a ‘mistake.’ More like a catastrophic travesty.

*****

                Hong Jun woke up; the sunlight was beaming straight into his eyes. ‘That’s odd,’ he thought. ‘There ain’t no windows in the pool house.’ His eyes shot open as he sat up. He was still in Ga In’s room.

                He looked over. Ga In was sound asleep, and…. He looked down, praying that she had just stripped off her clothes and he had somehow fallen asleep next to her. He lifted the blankets and looked down.

                ‘OH GOD!’ He shot out of bed and found her wastebasket. He rifled through it. ‘!’ he thought as he ran to the bathroom. He looked in the wastebasket. Still nothing. He got down on his hands and knees, scouring the floor as he moved laundry and shoes out of the way. He grabbed his cell phone and ran into the bathroom.

                The phone rang a lot longer than he had hoped it would. “Hello?” Hyun Joong answered.

                “Dude, man, you gotta help me.” He whispered frantically.

                “Yo, calm down. What’s your problem?” he asked.

                “I don’t remember what happened last night, but I woke up in Ga In’s bed….” Hyun Joong coughed, but Hong Jun thought it sounded more like he was trying to stifle a laugh.

                “Well, I know you don’t like her that much, but what exactly is the problem?” he asked.

                “Dude, I can’t find the !”

END OF CHAPTER 11